Read the wanderings of a Russian officer. Among the general savagery

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE RUSSIAN OFFICER

(from the library of Professor Anatoly Kamenev)

Save, in order to increase military wisdom "The Abyss of the Unspeakable"... My credo: http://militera.lib.ru/science/kamenev3/index.html

Suvorov's crossing of the Devil's Bridge.

Artist A. E. Kotzebue

A. Savinkin

...ANDNO MAN IS AN ISLAND...

(Fragmentsfrombook: " Military thought in exile. Creative e stvo russ what military emigration" )

Warriors - knightsbgreat ideas worked for the future national historical Russia. Russia, reliably protected from all “isms”, as well as external and internal predators, always ready to attack it in moments of weakness. They tried to pass on to future generations the banner of their spiritual victory, unique military thought, burning spirit, continuity, covenants, white deeds... Main lesson, which was extracted from the unequal armed struggle, from history, from wanderings in a foreign land: Russia will continue to stick to its armamentAndto her; The future Russian armed force may have to be built anew and always on the right (historical) foundations, with an eye on future wars, without hopes for eternal peace, “armed people,” the traditional Russian “maybe” and “I suppose.” Taught by the bitter experience of the disintegration of the Imperial Russian Army in 1917, they were able to define the process of future military construction as an independent creative work, in which the main attention would be paid to the historical (organic) development of the military system, strengthening and nurturing the spiritual character of the people and the army, and the creation of a perfect military organization. Only real (high quality)naya) the army will save Russia, bothWithworries about her future. Neither the Imperial Army, nor the White Armies, nor the Red Army, nor the Soviet Armed Forces had perfect quality and, accordingly, could not solve this problem. From now on the situation must change. The most terrible military danger constantly putting Russia on the brink of destruction, is a bad army. As soon as the Russian army weakens and decays, external or internal aggressors-enslavers-experiments immediately appear. That's why, to survive, our Fatherland requires "prAndepic" armed force, "victorious army", "real army" The army is undoubtedly good and even - in spite of everything - of the highest type. This truth has already been learned first Kyiv princes, who created a unique militia force, and kings of the Moscow state, under the militia system, they relied on correct military affairs, regular troops, and regiments of the “foreign system.” She became the leading motivePetrovskaya military refoRWe, which led to the emergence of a national professional army in Russia and the flourishing of Russian military leadership. Forgotten in the 19th century, this truth was rediscovered after the bitter experience of the Russian-Japanese and World Wars, in the victories and defeats of the white movement... Salvation is in quality - in “perfect quality” (I. Ilyin). Despite all the internal problems, the army is always a selection of the best (the squad), the highest quality institution in society, and such that “the mere thought of the existence of the Army does not allow the desire for unrest in the souls.” In the international arena, the Russian army must have the authority of the best in the world - to ensure its own peaceful life, to survive, and not to defend some kind of global aggressive, much less alien, interests. In self-defense, Russia, as before, can truly rely only on their blood military allies: the army, navy, Cossacks. if the question is posed correctly, all of these are not only urgent, but also completely achievable goals. A. Kersnovsky: "Since the Thirty Years' War, the first army in the world was created GustAvom Adolf Swedish army. She crushed the Caesar's army and Polish militias. But the day has come - the day of Poltava, -- When her banners bowed before othersatgoy army - the young army of Peter, dressed in a foreign way, but thinking in Russian and fighting in Russian. Years have passed. Europe began to consider the machine gun as its “best army” FriedrichII. The victories of this machine army over the armies of France and Austria gave it a reputation as invincible. And this hitherto invincible army met another army on the fields of Brandenburg. It met - and ceased to exist... That force that crushed the Prussians of Frederick was the Russian Army of Peter's daughter - the army of Rumyantsev and Saltykov, who thought in RussianWithfighting in ski and Russian style. Another generation passed - and the world was shocked by the victories of the army of the French Republic. In a hundred battles, Europe was defeated by its blue semi-brigades, but on the fields of Italy they themselves were crushed by the miracle heroes of Suvorov - the most Russian army that Russia has ever had. As soon as any European army ever claimed the title of “first in the world”, like every time on her victorious path she metedespondent Russian regiments and became “second in the world.” This is the main conclusion of our military history. So it was and so it will be."2 An army of the highest quality for Russia is not a luxury, but a vital necessityAndbridge Without it there is death, slavery, colonization, second-class status, shame and humiliation. A complex and tragic history determined the existence of Russia as a military power. The constant need to protect the Fatherland from external and internal enemies has developed a special attitude towards the Army and has placed high demands on the national military organization. The solution to the question of life and death of the Russian state (the troubled times of the 17th and 20th centuries) often depended on the state of the army, even the simple fact of its preservation in obedience and combat readiness. Hence the desire to perceive the Army with a capital letter, and not as a simple instrument of the state, its usual institution or a means of armed struggle. To see in it, first of all, the vital basis of the existence of Russia for all times: “the victorious Russian army” (A. Suvorov), “ centralnew citadel of the nation"(M. Menshikov), " knightly order"(P. Krasnov), " Christ-loving army"(I. Ilyin), " powerful weapon of sovereignsTmilitary self-preservation"(A. Denikin)" great sacred brotherhood"(N. Epanchin), etc. She is the last hope for salvation. And not only in the sense of armed defense of Russia, but also as a monastery in which the Russian national character is forged and tempered, without which it will not be possible to withstand the coming trials. I. Ilyin: " From time immemorial, the Russian army was a school of Russian patriotic loyalty, Russian honor and fortitude . Most military rank and deedforce a person to straighten the spine of his soul , gather your dissolute person, take control of yourself and concentrateOhone your endurance and masculinity. These are all basic character prerequisites. An army is impossible without discipline and diligence. The army requires military quality. It extinguishes laziness and the lust of discord in souls. She chains the will to the warnhonor, a sense of unity and solidarity - to one’s military unit, a heart to one’s homeland. This is a school of character and state-patriotic spiritatmarriage. In the future Russia, the people's attitude towards the army will be renewed and deepened. The people should not and do not dare oppose themselves to their army, as was the case before the revolution.Yution.<...> “We” are the Russian people; and in it is our special, honorably responsible , the banner-collected “we”,our army : our honor, our hope, our strength, the basis of our national existence. Bone from our bone and blood from our blood. It consists of us; we all flow into it; her interest is our interes; her victory is our victory; its decay is our destruction. She - introducingAndthe calf of our national chivalry; the fortress wall of our national freedom. Belonging to it is not “military service”, but an honorable right.<...> The Russian people will seek after the revolution a joyful, sincere unity with their army ; and he will be right in this, building her up with love and honor, and learning from her service, sacrificialOstyle and character" 3 . An army of the highest quality is an army that, relying on the people, is capable of reliably defending Russia from all sorts of enemies, winning victories over them, and selflessly serving the fatherland even in conditions of the collapse of statehood. This is the Russian professional army of the 18th century. These are white volunteer armies. These are the people's armies in Russia's patriotic wars. These are the most reliable, from the point of view of Russian interests. Therefore, for the Russian army, spirit, education, traditions, loyalty, art are primary, matter, training, science are secondary. If there is no “soul of the army” in the military body, there is no highest quality, no heroism, no service, no victory. Military service should be experienced “as an honor, as a right, as a valiant service.” 4. Education in spirituality, personal spirituality is the main source of military art, the creation of a high-quality army: “It (personal spirituality. - A.S.) found a special expression in Russian army, where military organization and personal valor went hand in hand; Where Suvorov, following in the footsteps of Peter the Great, expatAndnullified the idea of ​​the soldier as a religiously believing and spiritually serving person, where military initiative and improvisation were always valued according to their merits"5. I. Ilyin: "When future historians of Russia want to understand and illuminate the essence white movements, white struggle and white idea,- they will have to assimilate to themselves the basic spiritual impulse that controlled and moved the white hearts. This is pobuandthere was a desire - love for national Russia, living mighty sense of responsibilitynness for everything that happens in it and self-esteem a sense of honor that led people into life and death struggles. These were the three main sources that were destined to build a new Russia in the future, feeding its new legal consciousness and creating its spiritual culture."6 Representatives of the white emigration believed that in an era of extraordinary development of military equipment, growth in the number of armed forces, the army, it is especially important to be alive the focus of strong-willed discipline, not only to train, but to select and educate soldiers. P. Krasnov, for example, he believed: the army, as an armed crowd, ill-educated in advance, in times of war can falter before the enemy, and the better it controls its weapons, the more dangerous it will become for the state itself. Added to this will be the possibility of internal unrest and the enemy’s desire to destroy the morale of the population and army and create a “defeatist psychology.” A well-trained army will not allow this. She will look healthy. The more educated she is, the more restrained the language of her neighbors will become, the more modest their claims. Such an army will not run away from the enemy and will not go into military rebellion. And in general: “how high should it be upbringing Armies from which chivalrous elements it must consist of - in order to have the right to step over blood; in order to be ready to give everything, - peace and comfort, family happiness, strength and life itself - in the name of the Motherland, in the name of salvation and good."7 In this regard, moral department in the future national military toTotrine, believed P. Zalessky, "the main place must be presented, because the education of troops and people is more important for war than training and material preparation: you can know everything and be well equipped and - not want to sacrifice yourself, and not even want to expose yourself to the hardships and hardships that are always associated with conscientious performance of duties in war. And therefore, while teaching and living, we must use every minute to educate troops in the spirit of conscientiousness, courage and devotion to the interests of the common cause"8. Particular attention is paid to the education of the army because the fate of Russia depends on it. The army provides it with protection from external and internal enemies, protects national borders, preserves territorial integrity, protects honor and dignity, and protects from shame and humiliation. NecessityAndI can remember about theVnom: N. Kolesnikov: “People are allocating millions of pounds sterling, dollars, francs; they are building cannons that shoot 25 kilometers, submarine cruisers, an air force, tanks that are fortresses. But they forget to allocate money for the most important thing - the education of the souls of those who stands at these guns, who drives the submarines, who is hidden behind the armor plates of the tanks, and who, without this education, will turn the tanks, the guns, and the entire force of weapons against them.”9 An army of the highest quality does not arise on its own. It requires heroic superpersonal and personal efforts, a struggle to attrition until victory, strong-willed discipline, service (work of the spirit), but most importantly, the ability to learn from defeats, failures, and humiliations. Finding themselves in exile, Russian officers were able to courageously face the truth, did not succumb to myth-making, remained on the basis of a bitter but real historical fact: and moral victory of whites, and physical victory of reds, all the revolutionary military construction and confrontation of 1917-1921 meant only the general defeat of Russia, the destruction of its statehood and soul. In the unequal struggle with the Bolshevik “hordes” that grew up on Milyutin’s “democratic” system of armed people and Keren’s “revolutionary” and “freest army in the world”, in endless exile, a bitter thought clearly emerged: the 20th century is only a natural retribution for frivolous , a frivolous attitude towards wars, military affairs, military art, the army. P. Zalessky: “The army continuously absorbs colossal resources, and yet a constant chronic “unpreparedness” weighs on it. Even in the 18th century, it somehow succeeded, promoting such military people as Suvorov, Rumyantsev, Bagration, Kutuzov (the days of Suvorov, not 1812 But the 19th century in general is almost complete defeat of Russian weapons!"10 The eternal symbol of the anti-army will remain the hordes of 1917, the beating ofAndcers soldiers and sailors, commissars and committees, “Declaration of the Rights of the Soldier”, the desire to rely in the fight on foreign units: Polish, Czech, English, French, Serbian, Greek, Estonian, Finnish, Japanese and even German - as more reliable, disciplined and organized than the Russians, in that period. In critical situations, Russian generals, and then white leaders, lacked not equipment and weapons, not the number of troops, but foreign military assistance! How proud the general was Wrangel that it is organized and with honor he brought the Russian to a foreign landAarmy, and then for several years maintained its core in a disciplined, combatOin its own form! But Russia needed such troops in 1917, and not in 1922. Years will pass and it will be too late! The timing has its own stamp. While developing the foundations of the future armed force, how can one forget that the desire to support NicholasII- the legitimate Sovereign - at the moment of his tragically forced renunciation from the entire 8 millionAndimperial (!) army only two people spoke openly: the commanders of the cavalry corps Count Keller and Khan of Nakhichevan that the Winter Palace, and with it the legitimate provisional government, were defended in October 1917 "women shock workers" and cadets, that the Moscow Kremlin was defended by the same cadet boys who were the last loyal army of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief himself A.F. Kerensky(for a very short time) there was a detachment of Cossacks led by the “tsarist general” P. Krasnov, only 700 sabers, who had previously taken part in Kornilov’s performance. And a very bitter truth that makes you think seriously. Dreaming for many centuries about the “straits and Constantinople”, striving to take possession of them, the Russian army ultimately found itself on Turkish soil, but in exile, and it was denied even the role of a “watchdog” (to perform security service in the area of ​​the straits) . V. Sidorov: “It would be very useful to reflect on this amazing old Russian, autocratic-Romanov, censorship-imperial ossified integrity. Total only a fragment of old Russia sailed to the Bosporus, but in this fragment - all of her, as she was. She has learned nothing in three years of bloody civil strife - she feeds and solders her destroyers and starves her defenders. And where, where does he end his days? This is not even an irony of fate - it is an evil mockery. The Bosphorus, the straits, Constantinople - the age-old dream, goal, ambition of all Russian imperialists, from the Slavophiles and cadets to the “reigning persons” and the Black Hundreds. Did you want Constantinople? Here's Tsargrad! 911-1920. From Oleg, who nailed his scarlet shield on the local gate, to Wrangel, who was not taken as a guard at the same gate."12 R. Gul: “Poor old man! He sits in Constantinople as a bootblack. And he doesn’t believe that he will ever be allowed into Russia.<...>It's hard to clean other people's boots. General Tynov it is especially difficult to clean the straits, because the general wanted to annex the straits to the Russian Empire."13 And soldiers and officers of the once glorious Imperial Army served in the foreign lands of Serbia and Bulgaria, Paraguay and Uruguay, the Chinese and Japanese, Franco and Hitler, heroically fought for the interests of others in the Foreign Legion (dying not for “holy Rus'”, but for “beautiful France”), they built roads and bridges, entertained yesterday’s allies and enemies with Russian songs and horse riding... and at the same time, they comprehended what had happened in order to finally see through it , the most essential thing: the Russian army must be of the highest quality, built on solid historical foundations, based on creativity and self-knowledge. A frivolous attitude towards wars and military affairs, adventurous military reforms and random improvisations must be put an end to once and for all. The army is the basis of the national entityedevelopment of Russia is not a place for dubious experiments. As the main protective force of Russian statehood, it requires a particularly careful attitude towards itself, a thoughtful and firm military policy.

Conservatism, creativity, self-knowledge

A stable and constantly developing army (without the excesses of decomposition and lag) is created not so much by “democratic reforms” as by cultivating and improving the historically established model, which is most clearly reflected in the concept of “Russian army”. -- This is exactly what the Volunteer Army of M. Alekseev - L. Kornilov - A. Denikin - P. Wrangel eventually began to be called. -- Andprecisely on this main basisOVaniya tried to recreate the Siberian (Eastern) Army, Admiral Kolchak, noting that it should be, first of all, “Russian”, regular, in accordance withTwith howling signs and shoulder straps. It was precisely this quality that was lacking in the system of the “armed people” of D. Milyutin, the “freest army in the world” of A. Kerensky, and more than a dozen national, white, green and red armies that “democratically” arose at the beginning of the civil war. In relation to Russia, many of them were essentially “foreign”, pursuing global or independent goals. And at the same time, the United National Army of Great and Indivisible Russia was virtually absent. All this frustration multi-vector anarchic military construction, which can hardly be called creative creativity, became possible only because of the loss (or conscious denial) of historical principles and the institution of officership, because of ignorance and lack of study of one’s own experience, because of the habit of living at someone else’s spiritual expense. You cannot create something new if there is nolextensive business knowledge about Russia and the army-- the foundations of citizenship, correct volitional actions14. Russian military thought turned out to be scattered in time and space. She almost did not study Russia, was constantly late in the study of modern wars, systematically did not work on creating a true and complete history of the Russian army15, was overgrown with myths and all sorts of “nonsense” (especially during the Soviet period), and was never able to get out of the captivity of Western military theories , become the true basis of military development. One of the important conclusions of emigration: there is no self-knowledge - there is no correct military development. Without self-knowledge, synthesis of history and theory, thankless analytical work in the field of “one’s own” ( A. Gerua), not to determine the historical foundations, not to avoid mistakes, not to create a system of state knowledge. In this case, it is better not to create; nothing good will come of it. " VIt's all about self-knowledge, studying your own experience“- this leitmotif became the battle slogan of the heroic and extensive military-mental work of white officers in a foreign land. P. Zalessky: "<...>Military affairs were not studied seriously. Nobody looked into it; no one understood the past in such a way as to separate fiction from truth and make this truth instructive for the future. Oh, this is the past! If we knew him? If we knew him not from Ilovaisky and other “official” books, but in reality - tangible causes and consequences - we would not have received the current shame and suffering!<...>If we conscientiously studied the difficult victories of Peter the Great (near Poltava, Peter with 63 thousand was almost defeated by 13 thousand Swedes!), the brilliant successes of Suvorov (of course, without unnecessary exaggerations); the mediocre actions of the Russian armies in 1812-1814 and its completely unsuccessful actions in 1854-1856, 1877-1878 and 1904-1905, then we would be imbued with the energy and organizational tenacity of Peter; Suvorov’s mobility, eye and determination; deep and firm awareness of the harm brought to everyone by intrigue, careerism, professional ignorance, lack of public education and devotion to the common cause, i.e. everything that created for us Austerlitz, Friedland, Plevna, Mukden.<...> The Russian army did not know, in essence, what it itself was and why it existed.Thowls. The formula - “to protect the Tsar and the Fatherland from enemies external and internal” - is too vague and elastic, and the composition of the army and its formations did not correspond to its tasks at all, even in the narrow sense of the above formula; such an army was not capable of defending either the Tsar or the Fatherland from any enemies, which it proved brilliantly at Austerlitz, and at Friedland, and at Plevna, and in the Crimea, and in Manchuria, and, finally, during the World War of 1914 -1916 and in the days of the “bloodless” revolution! In short: in Russia it was not only correct,but no military doctor at allAndus"16. I. Solonevich: "If our historical science were engaged in the study of facts, and not propaganda in favor of hallucinations, then we would probably know about the origins of our state existence something more intelligible than individual episodes of the struggle for the Kiev grand-ducal table. But we don't know anything about this. Or we hardly know. All those lights of science that illuminated our past for us, with all their guts belonged to every crown in the world - except, of course, the Russian one. This, to some extent, repeats the history of our wretched “military mission.” Our generals learned from the Italians of the Renaissance and from the Poles of the era of degeneration, from the Swedes of Charles XII and from the Germans of Frederick the Great, from Napoleon and from Clausewitz - that is, from the experience of all those armies that were defeated our own. But from our own - how was it possible to learn? There are still many aspects regarding state building that may seem controversial. But in a military sense, there simply cannot be any disputes: the Russian army was the most victorious army in all of world history, including Ancient Rome in this history. So, perhaps, Russian military thought should be built on the basis of its experience, and not the experience of Kolelon, Sobieski, Karl, Friedrich and others. Not from the experience of those who somehow and once won some of the “first battles,” but from the experience of our army, which sometimes lost the first battles, but has not yet lost a single last one.”17 To create a new effective army, domestic experience should be studied, native history, their armed forces, as well as foreign military life, to assimilate the achievements of world military art. It is necessary to rely on those traditional elements that are reflected in the concept of “army”: the latest weapons, training, education, unity of command, discipline, strategy, tactics, etc. It is also impossible to ignore the historical laws of the existence of the army, the national characteristics of military art, military thought, positive traditions developed by previous armed forces. The army is a social phenomenon, a conciliar unity of conservatism and creativity, ensuring sustainable long-term development - improvement. She obeys general law, whichAsit: L. Frank: “In conciliar unity, just as in the memory and life of an individual, the past does not disappear, but continues to live and act in the present, and only this continuity, grounded in supertemporality, ensures the stability and vitality of the social whole.<...>In the depths of the conciliar historical life of humanity, as well as in the depths of the individual spirit, traditions are tirelessly and irreducibly co-participating, preserving the forces of the past in the present and transmitting them to the future, And creative energy of spiritual activity, directed towards the future and giving birth to something new."18 The leaders of revolutionary democracy (and the Bolsheviks) sought to reform the warring Imperial Army on "democratic principles" selectAndremoving from her discipline, unity of command, military spirit, depriving her of Faith, Tsar and Fatherland, undermining the authority of officers. Generals and officers at this time tried to “save the army”, “restore the army” in order to bring the war to victory. In the end of all these aspirations the army simply collapsed, opening the front to the Germans And giving freedom of action to the Bolsheviks. The latter, having come to power, secured their victory by creating a real army: regular, disciplined, relying on “military specialists” - former officers of the Russian army, but still divorced from its previous roots (the “reactionary”, “tsarist”, “officer” army ). Whites missed opportunities at least three times in 1917(could not) organize themselves to fight within the existing (historical) military system and were forced to create their own armies through improvisation: from scratch, on the basis of volunteerism, without special selection, while maintaining a unique - revolutionary - discipline. The return to the historical foundations of the army followed belatedly and not fully. A. Denikin- one of the leaders of the white movement and the ideologist of volunteerism - later admitted: For “just as a person cannot choose his age, so peoples cannot chooseAndfight your institutions. They obey those to which their past, their beliefs, economic laws, and the environment in which they live oblige them. That the people at a given moment can destroy, through a violent revolution, institutions that they no longer like - this has been observed more than once in history. But what history has never shown is that the new institutions, artificially imposed by force, held on at all firmly and positively. After a short time, the whole past comes into force again, since we are entirely created by this past, and it is our supreme ruler" ( Gustav Lebon). The Russian national army will obviously be revived not only on democratic, but also on historical principles.<...> Having decided to wage war, it was necessary to preserve the army, allowing the well-known conservationAtism in her life. Such conservatism serves as a guarantee of the stability of the army and the power that relies on it. If the army's participation in historical upheavals cannot be avoided, then you can’t turn it into an arena of political struggle, creating instead of a service beginning -- praetorians or guardsmen, it makes no difference - tsarist, revolutionary democracy or party. But the army was destroyed. On the principles that revolutionary democracy laid as the basis for the existence of the army, the latter is neither built nor can live. It is no coincidence that all later attempts at armed struggle against Bolshevism began with the organization of the army on the normal principles of military command, to which the Soviet command gradually tried to move.<...>To dismiss the huge question of re-establishing a national army on solid principles does not mean solving it. What? From the day of the fall of Bolshevism, peace and goodwill will immediately come in a country corrupted by slavery, bitterly Tatar, filled with discord, revenge, hatred and... a huge amount of weapons? Or will the self-interested desires of many foreign governments subside from the day of the fall of Russian Bolshevism, and not intensify even more when the threat of the Soviet moral infection disappears? Finally, even if all of old Europe, through moral degeneration, beat swords into plowshares, is it not possible for the coming of a new Genghis Khan from the depths of that Asia, which has centuries-old and unpaid bills for Europe? The army will be reborn. Without a doubt. But, shocked in its historical foundations and traditions, she's like bslong Russian heroes, will stand at a crossroads for a long time, anxiously peering into the foggy distances"19... The Russian Imperial Army was identified with solid principles, the successor of which the white army increasingly recognized itself as. At the end of the civil war, with P. Wrangel, “the Russian army, as the Armed Forces in the South of Russia were now called, was built on a strictly regular basis, entirely in the spirit and traditions of the Imperial Army”20. But even earlier, the All-Great Don Army was freed from the “revolutionary-democratic” frenzy. The Don government already in 1918 believed that the Don, and especially Russia, “needs a real army, not partisans, volunteers or combatants, an army old regime, obedient to the laws and strictly disciplined"21. Having become a military chieftain, P. Krasnov created such an army- the so-called young standing army with a total number of up to 30 thousand people. It was trained, well armed, operated according to the regulations of the old army, supplemented by the experience of the First World War, and was ready to march on Moscow. P. Krasnov: “These units were normal Russian staff, had state-owned horses and all the state-owned uniforms and equipment from the army, a regular convoy, were raised, drilled and trained according to the old Russian regulations and were the pride of the Don Army.<...> The former, glorious army, the army of 1914 has been reborn in the person of these brave young men, well-fed, developed by gymnastics, beautifully straightened, cheerfully marching around the square in new, smartly fitted clothes"22. The best features and traditions of the Imperial Army, solid foundations, cooTcompliance with the laws of military art was taken as a model, which is quite legalRBut. It was this army that arose successively from the Moscow troops. Many glorious victories, national military art, the development of Russian military thought, the names of Peter I, Catherine II, Suvorov, Rumyantsev, Ushakov, Kutuzov, Ermolov, Skobelev, and many other statesmen, commanders and outstanding officers were associated with it. No wonder that P. KraWithnew and subsequently, in exile, he believed: “And there will be order in Russia and Russia will be restored when regiments, battalions and companies of the Imperial Army will be in all the remote bearish corners, in small garrisons.<...>When above all the parties, above all the noisy people the government will riseRquiet, fair to everyone, and under it and in its defense will stand that army that took the oath, which knew first of all that the soldier is a servant of the Sovereign and the Motherland and their defender from enemies external and internal. And the soldier knew that the external enemy was the one who attacked Russia from the outside with weapons in his hands, and the internal enemy was anyone who violated the laws of the Empire. Everyone - without distinction of parties. We want the resurrection of Russia. We want to liveHouses , we want to know that we also have a Holy Great Motherland - Russia. We must strive with all our might to create the army again, to gather and breathe in the same vigorous forces that were in it before. We must return the Imperial Army to Russia."<...>23. If the imperial army could become the basis for the revival of the armed forces of the future national Russia, then the Soviet army, divorced from the national soil, history, and origins, was not considered as such, since, in the opinion of the white emigration, it represented only a temporary phenomenon, a “selection” communist janissaries." Until 1943, there was, by name, no officer corps (only commanders), and their last cohort - “military specialists” - almost all were destroyed in 1937-1938. It was no more up to par than the armed forces of Imperial Russia. I. Ilyin: "The Soviet army was not at its best because the psychological fears of the communists corresponded to reality: military affairs has its own laws, its own forms and traditions who do not get along with communist views and techniques. -- The spirit of the army is not revolutionary, but canned tive , not international, but national-patriotic, not of cowardly denunciation, but of brave frankness ; not naRtive careerism, but quality selection; not a behind-the-scenes "directive", butstratum e logical expediency, not dishonest intrigue, but honest rank . The extinguishing of this military spirit in the army inevitably reduces its combat effectiveness. Hence the inevitable internal divergence between the party and its police, on the one hand, and the healthy spirit of the army, on the other. Hence the eternal friction, "purges", torture, mass executions and inevitable extermination of the best officers and soldiers. Hence it is lack of fighting will in the Soviet army, which the whole world observed in the Finnish war (1939-1940) and in the first months of the German war (1941)"24.

Self-initiated business ministry

In Russian conditions, strong, reliable army is created not by forced service, but by voluntary service, devotion to military affairs, objective love for one’s Fatherland. The strength of the Russian army has traditionally beenYuwas in her “Russianness”(national character), organic, ability to win, remain apolitical (concerned only with one’s military affairs), act against external and internal enemies, rely on the private initiative of commanders, officers and soldiers. Without them self-initiated service - voluntary, ascetic, heroic, sacrificial, knightly, valiant, by conscience and calling - military affairs most often stagnated, the army disintegrated, the country found itself defenseless in the face of threats. The tradition of self-initiated service, which created military art, Russian military thought, natural historical military system and much more, took shape over centuries, crystallized in troubled times, in domestic and civil wars, during periods of military reforms. It was manifested in victories and in the military creativity of the people, in the people's militias and Cossacks, in the activities Ermak and Pososhkova, PetraIand CatherineII, Rumyantseva and Potemkina,WithUvorov and Kutuzov, Speransky and Zeddeler, Ermolov and Milyutin, Skobelev and Chernyaev, as well as the absolute majority of officers of the Russian General Staff, who in the 19th-20th centuries sought to raise military affairs to the proper height. The white movement is one of the most striking examples of self-initiated business service to Russia. A handful of Russian patriots (military and civilian) of their own free will (voluntarily) began a great work. She tried to prevent Russia from losing the World War, to save the army from decay, and to free the country from Bolshevism. In fact, out of nothing (self-inflicted) the white army was recreated. I. Ilyin: “Not for the first time in its history, Rus' puts forward this idea in deed and word: the idea of ​​self-initiated service to the Motherland, as a vessel of the spirit of God, inspired, non-violating service; service to the common cause in the name of God. This idea has always lived in Rus' from time immemorial; but it was not appreciated as it should be measure, was not sufficiently understood by the national authorities, was not brought up among the people as a living basis of statehood.<...>And today the white army with its central the core of volunteerism, which then turns into an organizational principle(at Kornilov, during the evacuation, to Gallipoli), then preserved in spirit and mood - the White Army moves in this ancient and healthy Russian tradition.<...>The case of the Russian Volunteer Army, which arose in 1917-1918 and is associated with names Kornilov, Alekseev, Kaledin, Drozdovsky, Kolchak and their collaborators and successors - is a matter of Russian national honor, Russian patriotic fervor, Russian national character, Russian Orthodox religiosity" 25. The White movement as a self-initiated business service to a just cause - overcoming the Time of Troubles, the liberation of Russia from Bolshevism, recreateAdevelopment of a strong national army -- despite all its apparent failure, “it saved the honor of the Russian nation”26. It was a reaction to Russia's defenselessness in the face of external and internal threats, repetition (continuation) of the feat M. Skopin-Shuisky, D. Pozharsky and K. Minin, who organized an armed repulse the Polish invaders and their own “thieves” and restored the historical Russian statehood. originally his the goal was declared in this spirit: "Creation of" an organized military force that could be opposed to the impending anarchy and the German-Bolshevik invasion. The volunteer movement should be universal. Again, as in the old days, 300 years ago, all of Russia must rise up in a national militia to defend its desecrated shrines and its violated rights."27 The task of saving Russia from external and internal enemies - to the credit of the White Army - was carried out under the slogan of relying on our own forces (" Russia will be saved by independence"). In principle, but not in certain particular cases, cooperation with the Germans who invaded Russia, contributed to the Bolsheviks coming to power, and were waging (until the end of 1918) a war against the Entente was excluded. Foreign military assistance was considered absolutely necessary, but was accepted only from allies in the war or struggle against the Bolsheviks: England, France, USA, Serbia, Romania, Paulbshi, Finland, Estonia. In any case, it should have been of an auxiliary nature (arming and equipping the army, providing logistics, limited participation in hostilities) - not contradicting the vital interests of Russia, not violating the unity and integrity of the Russian state. Russian troops should never be under foreign control, and even more so to participate in aggression against one’s homeland, even for the noble purposes of fighting the Bolshevik regime. In 1919 year, this principle was expressed by the command of the volunteer army as follows: " Othe liberation of Russia from Soviet power had to be carried out by Russian, and not foreign, hands. It was highly desirable to receive Allied troops only to ensureOrow in the area, which was supposed to serve as a springboard for the formation of ruWitharmy and a base at its distantthour operations. It was assumed that only with the expansion of the Odessa zone would the Allied forces perhaps have to take part in hostilities" 28 . Vdifferent periods of the civil war White volunteers were able to proactively create more than a dozen unique Russian army formations, seeking to unite them under the command of Admiral Kolchak. -- dvolunteer army, which arose on the basisALekseevskaya military organizationAnization. Initially, there were 3,700 fighters, among whom were 2,350 officers, including two former Commanders-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces: M.V. Alekseev and L.G. Kornilov. During the war, the strength of this army, which later became the core of the Armed Forces in the South of Russia, reachedGla 40 thousand people. The pride of the army is the “colored” (named) regiments (divisions): Kornilov,Alekseevsky, Drozdovsky,MarcoVskies... -- Volunteer detachment ("Brigade of Russian Volunteers") regimentVNika M.G. Drozdovsky, created in February 1918.Withaccomplished legendRvictorious campaign to the Don from Romania, strengthened the Volunteer Army3000 proven fighters in the most difficult period of itscreaturesOvania. -- All-GreatVoiskodOnskoye (Don Army), which sent up to 48 thousand trained soldiers to the common front in October 1919. -- Kuban and Caucasian armies, famous for their cavalry and troopsAndZan troops. -- Armed Forces in the South of Russia, created by A.I. Denikin, almost formed a single Russian army that risked marching on Moscow and the region.Awhich gave a significant number: from 64 to 200 thousand people in different placeseperiods of creaturesAnia. -- RussianAArmy of General P.N. Wrangel (about 40 thousand selection), organized in a military manner, which completed the last period of the battle with honorandDanish War onSouth of Russia, which has retained itsbasicpersonnelto foreignersAndNot. -- Oits own Southern (Southern Russian) Army consisting of SaratovOgo, Voronezh, Astrakhan corps, formed by P.N. Krasnov and under the command of General N.And. Ivanova. In 1919, RasfoRmired and joined the Armed Forces in the South of RoWiththese. -- The Northwestern Army, which was successively commanded by Generals A.P. Rodzianko, N.N. Yudenich, P.V. Glazenap (number reached 50 thousand people). She made two trips to Petrograd, but without the help of the Finns she was never able to take possession of it. Beginning to form as Russian DobrovolbcheskayaWithnorthern army (PSkovsky Corps). -- Russian WesterndobrovolskayaAArmy (WesternArmiya) bylKovnik P.M. Bermondt-Avalov. Had a unique personnel of Russian prisoners of war and German prisonersbRovoltsev. -- Russian People's Volunteer Army of General S.N. Bulak-Balakhovich. -- Eastern (Siberian) Army of Admiral A.V. Kolchak, reaching chiWithlaziness up to 400 thousand; On July 25, 1919, Admiral Order No. 153 was issued on the creationUnited Russian Army1 million 290 thousand peopleOcentury -- SeparateORenburg army under the command of General A.I. Dutov, separate Semirechensk army, Ural army, People's army SamarskOth committee of members of the Constituent Assembly, separateEast Siberian Army - joinedmainly to the Co troopslchaka. -- Far Eastern Army G.M. Semenov, which became known as Belopovstancheskaya in 1921, and by August 1922 it becamePriamRZemstvo Army led by the governorGeneral M.K. Diterichsom. -- Otherself-inflictedarmies:regular, rebeland partisannskies. When necessary, leaders and outstanding officers were found who were capable of acting independently, taking responsibility for the defense of the Motherland, and courageously resisting Bolshevism. If in 1917 year, when there was still a state army, they, for the most part, still lacked “Turkish courage” (with the exception of Kornilov and Krymov), and subsequently - political experience, they learned to engage in military affairs at a fairly high level. But, the main thing is that for the common Cause, for self-initiated service, more worthy leaders were found than in Free Russia A.F. Kerensky. Not Napoleons, of course, but knights of duty, inspired by love for Russia. Real officers, capable of organizing the defense of the fatherland in extremely difficult, even emergency conditions. In their deeds they demonstrated the highest standards: conscience, service, quality. I. Ilyin: "The leader is tempered in business service, strong-willed, courageous, nationally loyal. He is possessed by the spirit of the Whole, and not by the particular, not by the personal, not by the party. He stands and walks on his own, because he is politically far-sighted and knows what needs to be done. That's why he does not invite ideologists to “invent a program.” Left completely alone, he starts a big thing without creating a party for himself, but acting personally in the name of the supra-personal. His work is his call; At the call of his work, the best people close around him... A leader serves, not makes a career; fights, not figures; beats the enemy, and does not talk idle, leads, and does not hire out to foreigners. And he always prefers personal failure to success from dark and treacherous paths. That's how it was Kornilov. That's how it was Wrangel" 29. In all the diversity of Russian armies scattered throughout the theaters of the civil war, armed the forces of the future national Russia are only denotedAstarted. Their overall quality was low. But the shot was knightly. Successes were achieved not due to numbers, but through valor, art, extraordinary elevation of spirit, and sacrifice. During the unequal struggle, the best were selected, remaining a moral example for future generations. The selfless courage of the legendary generals Drozdovsky, Slashchev, Markov, Turkul, as well as many ordinary officers, little-known captains Ivanov. A. Turkul: "Army captain Ivanov is a hero of our time. While other schools produced loose people, without any internal axis, our military school has always produced precise people, selected, knowing what is possible and what is not, and most importantly, with a faithful, never-clouded sense of Russia. This feeling was the awareness of her constant service. For Russian military service people Russia was not only a heap of lands and peoples, one-sixth of the land and so on, but there was a Fatherland for themThowl of the spirit. <...>Not only in our Drozdovsky regiment, but, perhaps, in the entire Volunteer Army, the 4th company of Captain Ivanov was a real soldier. He replenished it exclusively from captured Red Army soldiers. I sometimes sent to Captain Ivanov reinforcements from cadets, high school students and realists - our daring eggplants - and students, but Captain Ivanov refused each time politely, but flatly: - What kind of soldier is this, sir? - he said, not without irritation. - This is not a soldier, but, excuse me, the Gussian intelligentsia... Like a soldier, if you want like a popular print, he felt the beauty of battle: in the fire, a brave commander must show off in front of his soldiers on horseback, that’s all. After all, a soldier’s love for a commander is childishly cruel: so bravelwives be an eagle-- commander, that even a bullet can’t kill him, and he’s charmed by a saber. This is probably why Captain Ivanov pranced on fire in front of the chains.<...>Now I understand that the simplicity of Captain Ivanov was that Suvorov simplicity that transformed our army into a very special and wonderful spiritual being, marked by the features of extraordinary nepotism, into that great army family of ours, where there were many such captains Ivanovs, for catsOry soldiers are living breathing Russia, and where there were many such soldiers, for whom their captains Ivanov were the most fair and honest, the bravest and most beautiful people in the world."30 A striking example of self-initiated businessservice became the activity of ruWithRussian military emigration in exile. Having exchanged the sword for a feather, officers of the White Army managed to preserve the spirit of the Russian army, createdunique military knowledge, a special military organization, a kind of knightly order - RussianOgeneralVoinskyWithunion (EMRO), who "was not looking for power, but ministry; defended not the partythnot a national matter, but a national-state one;united and did not divide; donated, but did not purchase. He carried the spirit within himnational, patriotic army, and not a private community of citizens... Nowadays it is not an army... But he is a member of the Russian army, with an order- welded together by national-patriotic unanimity, unitedAndno-feeling and one-willedAndeat" 31. See more... Illustrations/applications: 4 pcs. Spirit of the troops 50k "Fragment" Politics “An army without self-confidence, an army without faith in leaders is not an army... Self-efficacy is the main quality of a military man... We have had enough of reforms, and wouldn’t it be better to return simply and without any pretense to the old days, to those times when the spirit of Peter and Catherine’s eagles expanded our borders to the extent of the greatest state in the world... Change your weapons, change your system, but for God’s sake, don’t extinguish your spirit!” (Timoshenko V. //Russian Invalid. - 1907) Squad of the Brave 63k "Fragment" Politics Posted: 06/13/2015, modified: 06/13/2015. 64k. Statistics. We need faith in the power of the country - People's pride is a powerful spring of the nation's vitality - Military affairs should become the work of our whole life - We must renounce the disastrous prejudice of democratizing the army - All states began with squads of the brave - Our country needs an excellent standing army - Why officers flee the army - About civilian decay of the military school - Russia is unthinkable without a well-organized army (M. Menshikov) Illustrations/applications: 5 pcs. Table of ranks 113k "Fragment" Politics. Posted: 04/05/2015, modified: 04/05/2015. 113k. Statistics. “There is no need for higher abilities! ... Slaves must be equal ... We will extinguish every genius in infancy” (Peter Verkhovensky, in Dostoevsky’s “Demons”). “People are unequal by nature; and this is not a “trouble,” but a gift from God. We just need to recognize this gift correctly and treat it correctly”... (I. Ilyin) Illustrations/applications: 23 pcs. http://site/editors/k/kamenew_anatolij_iwanowich/tabelxorangah.shtml

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From the editors of the Brest Courier

These memories of the First World War were published a year ago in the magazine “Star” (Joseph Ilyin. Diary. No. 7, 2015). They contain fragments about the author’s stay in Brest-Litovsk, which is of particular interest to us. I bring to your attention this publication in abbreviation. Moreover, they are written in a good style, and his daughter, who returned to the USSR, became a famous writer, the wife of linguist professor A. Reformatsky. Some evaluative moments clearly bear the style of that era, so we ask you to take this favorably and without unnecessary emotions. You can find explanations for some personalities (Nikolai Nikolaevich and others) on the Internet.

Ilyin Joseph Sergeevich (1885 Moscow – 1981 Vevey, Switzerland) - Russian military man, author of memoirs. From 1908 he served as a lieutenant in an artillery brigade. At the beginning of the First World War he was wounded in the arm and received a concussion. After being wounded, he did not participate in battles; he was assigned to non-combatant or rear positions. Participant in the civil war on the side of the White movement. Colonel. In exile after 1920. Lived in Harbin. He served on the Chinese Eastern Railway and lectured at the Institute of Japanese-Russian Society. He worked in the emigrant newspaper “Russian Voice”, in the 60s in the USA in the Californian newspaper “Russian Life”, in the Russian-language “New Journal”, in the Parisian “Russian Thought”. In 1937, he donated his “Biographical Memoirs” to the emigration archive in Prague. He spent the last years of his life in Switzerland.

We are approaching Smolensk. It rains starting from Tula. There is not a single flake of snow in the Tula province, but here it is warm, like spring. There is a foggy haze above the ground, and occasionally melted snow appears gray in some places. Will it really continue to be like this? Was it worth taking warm clothes with you?!

In the next branch, everyone continues to drink and play cards - having fun, in other words. But, apparently, all this is done more so as not to think about the future and what lies ahead for everyone.

No matter how hard I look, I just can’t see anyone’s desire, not only ardent, but even modest, to go to the position a second time. I don’t know how to explain this - maybe by the fact that everyone has already been wounded once and this is the psychology of people who were wounded?.. Career officers are more restrained and silent, they are obliged, it is their duty - war, but those who are from the reserve and warrant officers, they are easier and less embarrassed to express their opinions and their mood.

The train stopped at some station, and I took the opportunity to write a letter home, otherwise the scribbles were simply unimaginable.

The day after tomorrow we will be in Brest. How it will be there, God knows - where will they send it, how will they send it? Now let's move on. The lieutenant - my counterpart - is also busy writing letters.

Now we are standing in Baranovichi, where we feed the lower ranks. The food is very good at all food stations, and I myself enjoy eating it. Yesterday we met a huge train with captured Austrians - ragged, hungry, rushing to us for bread, over which they were fighting.

I had to shout at them. I and a second lieutenant from our squad, who sleeps upstairs, handed them cigarettes - poured them into the hats that they held up - a terribly pitiful look. For the second day now not a snowflake has been seen. Blue sky, like early August. Bright sun. It’s absolutely impossible to say that December is just around the corner. We will be in Brest at night.

We arrived in Brest. Now I'm thinking about going to Central Station. Yesterday we stood in Baranovichi for four hours. We looked around this town. Headquarters in Baranovichi. I vividly remembered Nikolai Nikolaevich. They say that Yanushkevich is a terrible anti-Semite and attributes every failure to the “Jews”...

There is a very big traffic jam here, and therefore we will probably stand for two or three days until they sort us out. At first our position was not clarified, and we, having arrived yesterday at eight o'clock in the morning, stood four miles from the station, thinking that we would soon be sent further.

I took the room specifically to sleep on clean linen and go to the bathhouse, from where I returned an hour ago. The bathhouse called the “divisional” bathhouse of the fortress garrison is very good and well-equipped, and I’m sitting now, drinking tea and feeling blissful, especially when thinking about a bed after six nights on a bench in third class. At the station everyone was looking for Misha’s train, but instead of him Vanya met Kolya Polivanov, whose train had arrived an hour ago. We kissed, chatted, and I examined the train and the wounded - an unusually large number of frostbite. For 17 whole days we lay in the trenches, and one night we stood in a knee-deep swamp - by morning the water in the swamp froze. There are wounded German guardsmen: tall, healthy people, rather good-natured, but one was gloomy and gloomy. One, tall, was wounded through the chest and was constantly coughing up blood; his sister said that if he had been weaker, he would not have been able to endure such a wound.

Kolya told me that Misha had gone to Radom an hour before my arrival and further to pick up the wounded.

We laughed a lot when I told what a hero Misha was when he came to Penza.

“And he’s all lying, he’s never been anywhere,” Polivanov laughed.

“But he has an affair with his older sister, that’s true,” said Kolya. “But it seems that among our noble trains there is only one like Mishin.”

We said goodbye because Kolya was in a hurry to get meat, and then the train left for Gomel.

I read in Novoye Vremya that Ambrazantsev was killed. Poor guy, he was a good man. Now only his sister remains in Novospassky.

Brest is a small, almost exclusively Jewish town. Today is Saturday, everything is closed, there are almost no cab drivers, because out of 157, 130 are Jews. By the way, this was the first time I saw a Jew on a box. There are two types of them here, these cab drivers: single phaetons and paired phaetons. Horses are skin and bones. I approach one: “Your horse is probably going to die, can’t you get it?!” - “Well, do you really want to buy something?!” - “No, I have to go.” - “Well then, sit down, and then we’ll see you, what?”

The weather here is amazing, 8–10 degrees Celsius. It especially seems wild after deep snow, fox hunting. It turns out that there is almost no winter here at all, and no one even thinks about sleighs.

A week before our arrival, a whole tragedy broke out here and Nikolai Nikolaevich came here urgently. It is forbidden to write about this and they try to keep it secret. 80 thousand shells exploded, killing about 500 people, an entire company of sappers with officers who had recently been buried. The explosions occurred sequentially, starting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. evenings. Almost all the glass in the city burst, and fragments fell from the fortress; most fled in panic to the field outside the city. Fortunately, all the warehouses and cellars with pyroxylin survived and did not detonate, otherwise, as one officer told me, not a trace would have remained of the city, inhabitants and fortress. At the station just at this time, when the explosions began, there was a whole train loaded with pyroxylin, and only thanks to the resourcefulness of the station chief and the courage of the drivers, they took it out, otherwise the whole station would have gasped.

They talk about evil intent, because there are supposedly spies here, and everywhere you see posters: “Beware of spies. There is a reward of one thousand rubles for the capture.” It is believed that, disguised as a soldier, the spy went to the warehouse where many lower ranks worked. But, of course, nothing is known for sure, and everything is just speculation.

The fact that the commandant here is General Liming also provides food for various rumors. How many Germans we have after all! On this day, when the explosions began, he was at the station, where he was seen off with music, because he was leaving somewhere for the war, having received a new assignment. However, he did not have time to leave, because explosions thundered.

There is nothing from home yet, and the lieutenant received a telegram at the station, which, however, took three days, but arrived just in time for our arrival.

1914 December

Here it is December. The train leaves tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

We, several officers, will go on our own to Kholm, where we will receive an order, since we do not have our lower ranks and we can travel on our own. The rest, with teams from the Hill, will go to look for parts.

My lieutenant is leaving with the train. In the meantime, we are walking with him. I shared a hotel room with Ensign Bursky, who fell ill with something yesterday and went to the local hospital yesterday. He lies down all day, speaks little and gives the impression of some kind of “ramoli”.

The hotels here are something terrible. Jews caught up with incredible prices. My room is three times smaller than the one in Penza, with a broken sofa and rickety chairs, dusty and dirty, with bedbugs and other delights, costs 2 rubles. 25. In peacetime, there were no more expensive ruble rooms here. And despite this, everything is full everywhere. There is no doubt that if Russians were in the place of the Jews, it would be the same; the point is not in nationalities, but in the fact that we have neither order nor system. And prices, and all life, everything would have to be strictly distributed and established in a certain order.

Bursky left me. He turned out to have severe rheumatism, and the doctor took him to the hospital. The train leaves tomorrow, tomorrow I will go to Kholm.

I’m collecting all the newspapers and magazines to bring to the positions, there’s probably a drawback there...

The Ilin family. Harbin, 1926. Illustration from the book

It is well known that representatives of the Ilyin family were not spared literary talent. Let us at least remember Natalya Iosifovna Ilyina, whose feuilletons Tvardovsky loved so much and with whom Alexander Vertinsky and Korney Chukovsky were friends. In her memoirs “Time and Fate,” which opened up the world of emigration in Russian Harbin for the Soviet reader, she left the following portrait of her father, Joseph Sergeevich Ilyin (1885-1981), an officer in the tsarist army, then an emigrant: “This man was intemperate. Having just escaped from a fratricidal war, he is intemperate in his passions. During the first years of his Harbin life, he still did not take off his paramilitary uniform - a khaki-colored tunic with a closed collar, belted with a belt...”

Subsequently, Ilyina more than once recalled the atmosphere of “damage, hopelessness, melancholy” that reigned among Russian exiles on Chinese soil. The shadow of his White Guard father, who lived out his days in Switzerland, always hung over the Soviet writer Ilyina, who returned from Harbin to the USSR back in 1948.

And today, the granddaughter of Joseph Ilyin, a tireless devotee of Russian culture living in Paris, Veronica Jaubert, released this book. One wonders how these notes survived the fire of the revolution and the Civil War, during countless travels across Russia and China. Even before World War II, Ilyin transferred them to the Russian Foreign Archive in Prague, which after 1945 was transported to the USSR and is now stored in Pirogovka, in the State Archive of the Russian Federation. It was there that Veronica Jaubert found them and prepared them for publication.

So, first of all, we have diaries written in clear Russian prose. They were written in the “damned days,” times whose darkness is so frightening today. Sometimes the events of the past and the present are too frighteningly similar: “The road went first through a small forest, then through fields. It was extraordinarily beautiful when the steel surface of the Volga flashed. What a river! Looking at this vastness, I somehow don’t believe in either the revolution or all this disgrace. And among this native, Russian, most beautiful nature in the world, you clearly feel with some subconscious instinct that something thunderous, inevitable, oppressive, heavy is approaching.”

Before us is a large canvas of the life of a Russian officer from the First World War to his arrival in Harbin at the beginning of 1920. And everywhere there is a clear truth, without any omissions, about what he saw during his wanderings around Russia, which led him first to Kolchak, then to China: “A large room, rather a hall, was filled with soldiers of the most vile kind. The soldiers are unbuttoned and have boorish faces. They smoke and spit. Some speaker from the front, a wartime official, spoke from the podium about why the Germans took our division by surprise and gassed us. In his opinion, all the blame lay with the authorities, who deliberately decided not to prevent the impending attack... I still wanted to speak out and say that this whole gang, which he called the division, threw away gas masks and responded to the warnings of the officers that the Germans would now soon make peace.” .

Together with Ilyin, we find ourselves on the fronts of the First World War in Poland and Galicia, we make our way through trouble-ridden Russia to the East, we see unimaginable scenes of continuous violence, executions and robberies amid general savagery. Famous historical figures also appear on the pages of the diaries - Denikin, Nabokov, Ungern, of course, Kolchak, whom Joseph Sergeevich simply admires. He does not hesitate to write about the loss of dignity of many officers, that Bolshevism is determined primarily by Russian reality and there is no need to blame someone else. “The Diaries of Joseph Ilyin” ends with a story about the last days in Russia near the Chinese border: “We looked at the church built by the hands of the Decembrists, the icons painted by them themselves, then the house where they lived, and their graves... These are the people who naively thought the revolution would bring benefits and the salvation of Russia. Salvation from what, one wonders. Now, if only they could get up from the grave and look at the work of their hands, at the shoots that produced the grains they threw…” You couldn’t say it better.

Date of publication of the news: 03/16/2017

At the end of 2017, the book “The Wanderings of a Russian Officer. Diary of Joseph Ilyin. 1914-1920" edited by his granddaughter Veronica Jaubert, emeritus professor at the University of the Sorbonne.

We consider Joseph Sergeevich Ilyin our fellow countryman. In the village of Samaykino near Syzran (now Novospassky district of the Ulyanovsk region) there was an estate of his wife E.D. Voeykova, where the Ilyin family lived for a long time. There they met the revolution, and from there their path lay to Harbin. Almost a hundred years later, having discovered her grandfather’s diary in a Russian archive, Veronica Jaubert did a tremendous amount of work: she transferred the 500-page manuscript to an electronic medium, prepared notes, and found a publisher. So she immortalized I.S. Ilyin, giving him a second life.

In the annotation, Veronica Jaubert writes: “The diary entries of the Russian officer Joseph Sergeevich Ilyin (1885, Moscow - 1981, Vevey, Switzerland) cover the years 1914-1920 - a turning point in the history of Russia in the 20th century. A vivid epistolary testimony captures the horrors of the First World War, the fatal changes brought about by the February and October Revolutions of 1917, the author’s participation in the Civil War on the side of the Whites, the great exodus of Russian exiles through Siberia along with Kolchak’s army... A description of the stages of the dramatic life path that befell the future emigrants who found themselves in Manchuria, interspersed with pictures of nature and Ilyin’s philosophical reflections on the meaning of life and the future of Russia, which have not lost their relevance to this day.”

February 27, 2017 in Moscow at the House of Russian Abroad. A. Solzhenitsyn, with the direct participation of Veronica Jobert, held a presentation of the book. It has already entered the museum library and the Palace of Books.

On March 7, Simbirsk native, emigrant of the first post-revolutionary wave, Parisian Olga Iosifovna Ilyina-Lail, celebrated her 100th birthday. In the summer of 1918, as a one-year-old child, she, along with her older sister Natalia (writer N.I. Ilyina), was taken by her parents Joseph Sergeevich Ilyin and Ekaterina Dmitrievna Voeikova-Ilyina from the family estate in Simbirsk near the village of Samaykino (now Novospassky district of the Ulyanovsk region) to the distant Chinese city of Harbin . There she spent her childhood and youth in poverty and deprivation.

After getting married, Olga Iosifovna lived in London and Paris, raising her daughters Veronica (V. Jaubert, emeritus professor at the Sorbonne and a great friend of the museum) and Catherine. In 1947, her sister Natalia Iosifovna Ilyina returned to Russia, and Ekaterina Dmitrievna soon moved to her from Shanghai. In 1961, Olga Iosifovna visited the Soviet Union for the first time in Moscow to meet her family after a long separation. Since then, she began to visit our country often. In Paris, she organized a charity committee to help one of the Moscow orphanages, where money was transferred annually.

In 2002, she visited Ulyanovsk. “It was my cherished dream to see the places where I was born,” she said upon meeting. The last time Olga Iosifovna came to our city was in June 2012 during the 200th anniversary of I.A. Goncharova. She was 95 years old! Lively and energetic, always fit, interested in everyone and everything - her appearance inspired optimism in everyone who attended the festive events. Olga Iosifovna is the author of two books of memoirs: “Eastern Thread” (2003) and “East and West” (2007). And the collections of our museum received materials from the nobles Ilins and Voeikovs from her family. We congratulate Olga Iosifovna on her anniversary and wish her good health.